Tag Archives: Ogoni

Ogoni Clean Up: FG Conducts Ground Breaking Ceremony.

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The out-going Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, has said that the people of Ogoni land will see tangible cleanup of their area in the next five years.

The minister said this during the ground breaking ceremony of the building of the centre of excellence, otherwise known as the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre in Bori, Khana local government area of Rivers state.

The event brought together federal and state government officials, traditional rulers, commuinity leaders, as well as members of the board of trustees for the clean-up of Ogoni land.

In June 2016, the Federal Government formerly launched the clean-up of oil spills in the region, as recommended in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report.

The government had said that it is committed to restoring the ecosystem to what it used to be and as such restore the peoples’ source of livelihood.

It also stated that it is not just committed to implementing the UNEP report but is going beyond that by taking steps to improve security, good governance and economy of the Niger Delta region.

 

Source: Channels TV

Nemesis? Judge who sentenced Ken Saro Wiwa to death fingered in bribery scandal

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Tope Tomekun wrote:

The day was Friday, November 10, 1995! It was a black Friday in Ogoni land and in Nigeria among good men.

It took five attempts to hang Ken Saro-Wiwa before the Nigerian writer spoke his last words and his body went limp. “Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues,” were his last words that Friday morning, blindfolded and dangling from a rope. And he died!

“In my innocence of the false charges I face Here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: ‘All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor’. The day cometh.” Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa, looking into the two eyes of Justice Auta, sitting on some filthy bench up there, wielding the transient powers of life and death, uttered these prophetic words before being led away from court/tribunal room, into his death by hanging after Justice Ibrahim Auta pronounced him and his Ogoni compatriots guilty as charged, of framed-up charges.

Justice Ibrahim Auta, the judge who was handpicked by the Abacha regime to head the kangaroo tribunal that sentenced renowned environmentalist and minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight compatriots to death by hanging, today is the same Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, who is now facing corruption mess in the hands of the DSS.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in whose home over $550,000 was allegedly found during the raid, has reportedly confessed to a deal between him and Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, by which $300,000 of the physical cash found in his bedroom was to have been shared between the two men.

The said Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja, had reportedly confessed that the bribery for Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court is that several High Court judges are assigned lucrative cases by the CJ, who then requests them to collect the bribes in dollars and transfer to him physically at home.

He revealed that the CJ has received monies from him several times after matching him with high profile cases that are then settled in favor of the highest bidders.

Now it is clear that Saro Wiwa’s death sentence was a product of corruption in the judiciary. Meaning that without corrupt judges, Saro Wiwa and many more would still have been alive today. Ah! We must kill this monster, corruption in the bench; it has killed many innocent souls.

A corrupt judge is a killer, a murderer, an assassin without bullet; sometimes he murders justice, sometimes he murders men.

A great lesson here is that if falsehood has travelled for twenty years, within one day the truth will catch up with it. Justice Ibrahim Auta after sentencing Saro Wiwa to death has been rising rapidly in his career and he became the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Nigeria and now the pandora box split opened. Evil doer might rise in his evil doing but the day Nemesis arrives his doorstep, his fall shall be concluded speedily!

Saro Wiwa rests in peace but his killers shall not, never find peace!

It’s justice time for the unjust Justices and the nemesis has just arrived Nigeria!

MOSOP to generate database of contractors, others for Ogoni cleanup

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The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has commenced the process of generating comprehensive database of graduates, contractors and artisans in Ogoniland ahead of the full implementation of the Ogoni cleanup.

MOSOP Publicity Secretary, Fegalo Nsuke disclosed this in a statement made available to the News of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday.

Nsuke said MOSOP President, Legborsi Pyagbara made the announcement after a meeting between the organisation and representatives of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Port Harcourt.

Pyagbara explained that compiling the database of Ogoni professionals, graduates, skilled and unskilled personnel was necessary to access their capacity and the level of training required for the engagement of the Ogoni people for the cleanup.

“As part of our preparations, we will launch database of Ogoni graduates and contractors to enable us to have good understanding of our capacity as a people ahead of the full implementation of the clean-up.

“We also need data of artisans, skilled and unskilled personnel to enable us to determine our training requirements,” he said.

Federal Government Warns of Fraudsters In The Ogoni Cleanup

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The Federal Ministry of Environment has issued a warning to the people of Ogoni and the entire Niger Delta region on the emergence of dubious individuals who will pose as Government officials, in order to extort money from communities in the Niger Delta, in the name of Ogoni cleanup.

The Ministry of Environment issued this warning through a statement signed by the Ministry’s press director, Alhaji Isiaka Yusuf. The statement reiterated that the Federal Government is undertaking the clean-up project in Ogoniland alongside other stakeholders in the oil industry, and it will not authorize any individual or group to collect money from people in the Niger Delta.

Read the full statement below.

Ogoniland Clean-up, FG Cautions against Fraudsters

“Following the Flag off of the clean-up of Ogoniland, and other oil impacted communities of the Niger Delta by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Ministry of Environment has been consulting with the stakeholders in the Niger Delta with a view to ensure proper commencement of the clean-up project

However, It has come to the knowledge of the Federal Ministry of Environment that some dubious individuals may use the opportunity of the project to extort money from the unsuspecting people of the Niger Delta communities. This includes the forgery of Federal Government Agencies letters.

Without doubt, we wish to state that the Federal Government in collaboration with other stakeholders in the oil industry is funding the project. It has not and will not authorize or contract individuals, groups and or organizations to collect money from the good people of the Niger Delta on behalf of the government for the purpose of cleanup of Ogoniland and other oil impacted communities in the Niger Delta region.

In view of the foregoing, the ministry hereby warns that anybody, groups or organisations found extorting money from the people for the purpose of the Ogoniland cleanup project will be made to face the full wrath of the law

The General public is therefore requested to report anybody, group and or organization, collecting money from people for the cleanup exercise to the police or any other law enforcement agency.

The ministry, therefore, takes this opportunity to reiterate the Federal Government’s commitment in ensuring the transparent and successful cleanup of Ogoniland,’’

In a related development, Guardian Newspapers reports that the lack of funds may stall the actual start of the clean-up.

A source who is said to be from one of the oil companies was quoted by Guardian in the report, saying that there is no money currently set aside by the Federal Government, or any oil company for the clean-up.

“It is the joint venture partners that are supposed to come up with 90 per cent of the funding. It is not factual that any oil company has kept money aside to fund the cleanup. For the government there is implication for funding, NNPC has to come up with its share of the funding. There is no $1 billion anywhere that Shell has kept,” the source said.

Guardian also reports that the Ministry of Environment’s 2016 budget does not make any provision to cover the clean-up.

At the weekend, the Federal Government approved 23 members of Governing Council and Board of Trustees for the Cleanup. The members are expected to be inaugurated on Thursday.

President Buhari To Launch Ogoni Clean-Up June 2

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President Muhammadu Buhari will launch the Ogoni land clean-up on June 2, a statement has said.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, Head of Corporate Affairs unit, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt on Monday. It stated that the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, confirmed the date when she visited Bodo in Gokana Local Government Area of the state to inspect an oil spill clean-up demonstration.
The statement quoted Mohammed as saying that the president had given assurances that the area would be cleaned-up in fulfilment of his electioneering promise to people of the Niger Delta.

“I can confirm that President Buhari will visit Ogoni land on June 2 to flag-off clean-up of oil spills in the area as recommended in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
“Buhari would return to Ogoni land where he inaugurated a fish pond in 1984 where the once flourishing pond regrettably had been destroyed by oil pollution.
“The Federal Government is coming back to restore the ecosystem to what it used to be and as such restore the peoples’ source of livelihood.
“We are not just committed to implementing the UNEP report but we are also going beyond that by taking steps to improve security, good governance and economy of the Niger Delta region.
“I can assure that the clean-up exercise is only the beginning, as Mr President is focused on restoring hope to people of the region,” the statement quoted the minister as saying.

Mohammed solicited support of all stakeholders to make the exercise a success.
The statement also quoted Mrs Ibim Semenitari, the Acting Managing Director of NDDC, as saying that the clean was of utmost importance to the commission.

 
Semenitari lauded the president for taking steps to fulfil his electioneering promise of improving welfare and living conditions of people of Ogoni and others in the region.
“Ogonis are united behind this effort by the Federal Government to clean up their environment, and as such, the people will help in ensuring sustainability of the clean-up,’’ she said.
Semenitari said that NDDC through Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan Forum would mobilise and coordinate support of various stakeholders to make the clean-up a success.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UNEP report was released in September 2011, with a call on the Nigeria and multinational oil companies to clean-up the Ogoni land.

 

(NAN)

Minister Of Environment Visits Ogoniland Ahead Of Environmental Cleanup

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Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, yesterday March 14th, visited Ogoniland in Rivers state for the second time this month, ahead of the proposed environmental cleanup of the area. Ogoniland has suffered many years of environmental degradation due to oil spillage and pollution. See more photos from her visit to the area below…

Buhari Gives Hope To The Ogoni People With This Land Clean Up Action, Says APC

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Complete Text of the Press Conference by the National Publicity Secretary of APC by Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Lagos, Aug 11th 2015

FAST-TRACKING ENVIRONMENTAL CLEAN-UP OF OGONILAND: PRES. BUHARI GIVES HOPE TO LONG-SUFFERING PEOPLE

President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval, on Aug. 5th 2015, of actions to fast-track the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland is undoubtedly one of the most significant decisions taken by the President since his inauguration on May 29th 2015.

Like one writer said: ”It is important to underscore here that the pains of environmental pollution and a looming ecological catastrophe are defining issues in the Niger Delta struggle – whatever that means. It is at the core of the Ogoni Bill of Rights of 1990 and later the Kaiama Declaration of 1998.”

Another said: ”Though, government is a continuum, it is instructive that a Nigerian president of non-Niger Delta origin is now the one who has taken the focused approach required to pull the region back from the brink of oil-instigated ecological disaster. Buhari’s decision to prioritise implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoniland speaks volumes for his determination to make the lives of people in the Niger Delta better.

”It is a strong statement that those who have tried to impute anti-Niger Delta sentiments to the coming of Buhari have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick.”

This action of the President transcends all the needless arguments about the appointments so far made by him, because it touches directly on the well-being of a long-suffering people, people whose farmlands, drinking water, homes and sources of living have been deeply affected by hydrocarbon pollution.

Even if all the appointments made so far by the President have gone to the Niger Delta, that would not have been as momentous as the President’s approval of actions to fast-track the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland, a 1,000-sq-kilometre area that has been the site of oil exploration and production since the 1950s – and which has suffered pollution from oil spills and oil well fires.

The action also puts a lie to the antics of those who insinuated that the President would ignore those who didn’t vote for him in the March 28th presidential elections. As it were, undoubtedly the most far-reaching action by the President has been to the benefit of the Niger Delta, where he is not known to have garnered many votes! What a pleasant irony!

The President’s action has now breathed life into a four-year report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which hitherto has been gathering dust on the shelf since it was published on Aug. 4th 2011.

BACKGROUND TO THE REPORT

The Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland was commissioned by the Federal Government, which invited UNEP to undertake the assessment

The 2-year assessment was carried out by national and international experts assembled by UNEP, against the background of the fact that
there are serious threats to human health from contaminated drinking water to concerns over the viability and productivity of ecosystems

THE REPORT

The report revealed the nature and extent of oil contamination in Ogoniland and covered the following areas, among others:

– Contaminated land
– Contaminated groundwater
– Contaminated surface water
– air pollution
– public health

It represents the best available understanding of what has happened to the environment of Ogoniland, and the implications for the affected population.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SUMMARY

1. Though the oil industry is no longer active in Ogoniland (Shell pulled out of Ogoni in 1993), oil spills continue to occur in alarming regularity

2. Extensive pollution of soil by petroleum hydrocarbons in Ogoni

3. Pollution at depths of 5 metres

4. Pollution has reached groundwater

5. In one site, in Eleme LG, 8cm layer of refined oil floating on the groundwater serving community wells

Vegetation:

6. Damaged crops

7. Fish fawning places in Mangrove contaminated

8. Oil fires kill vegetation

9. Loss of Mangrove cover due to increased artisanal refining

Aquatic:

10. Surface water contains hydrocarbons. Floating layers of oil vary from thick black oil to thin sheens

11. Fish deserted polluted areas….fish sector suffering due to destruction of fish habitats

12. Wetlands degraded

Public Health:

13. Ogoni community exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons
– Outdoor air
– Drinking water
– Contaminated soil

14. Community members in some areas drink water with BENZENE, a known carcinogen, at levels 900 times above the WHO guideline
NOTE: EMERGENCY ACTION WAS RECOMMENDED AHEAD OF OTHER REMEDIATION EFFORTS

15. BENZENE detected in air samples at higher levels than stipulated by WHO

RECOMMENDATIONS (DIRECTED AT THE FG)

1. Establish the Ogoniland Environment Restoration Authority

2. Establish the Ogoniland Environment Restoration Fund with an initial capital of US$1 billion by oil industry and the FG

3. Set up Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration

4. Build capacity of government agencies so they can fulfil their mandates – especially that of the Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).

5. Organize public awareness campaign on pollution

NOTE: Despite the urgency stated in the UNEP report on the need to implement the recommendations, the immediate past government did nothing beyond establishing the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) in 2012, a full year after the report was submitted, and then leaving the agency to rot away.

For example, the UNEP report was clear in stating that ”Because of high rainfall in the Niger Delta, any delay in cleaning up an oil spill leads to oil being washed away, transversing farmland and almost always ending up in the creeks.”

What President Buhari has now done:

– The President has approved actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report- as far as the recommendations directed at it (FG) are concerned.
– The actions approved by President Buhari, based on recommendations to him by the Executive Director of UNEP, the UNEP Special Representative for Ogoniland, Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Petroleum Resources, and other stakeholders, include the amendment of the Official Gazette establishing HYPREP to reflect a new governance framework comprising a Governing Council, a Board of Trustees and Project Management.

The President also approved the composition of a Board of Trustees for the HYPREP.

Some US$10 million will be made available by stakeholders within 30 days of the appointment of members of the Board of Trustees for the Trust Fund who will be responsible for collecting and managing funds from contributors and donors. .

A new implementation template has also been evolved at the instance of President Buhari, and the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland will commence in earnest with the President’s inauguration of the HYPREP Governing Council and the Board of Trustees for the Trust Fund.
Thank you
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Lagos, Aug 11th 2015

– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/buhari-gives-hope-with-fast-t-racking-of-ogoni-clean-up-apc/#sthash.mn9xKUNf.dpuf

Governor Wike Renames Rivers State Poly After Ken Saro-Wiwa

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Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has renamed the State Polytechnic, Bori, after the late author and environmental rights activist from Ogoniland, Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Wike explained that renaming of the institution, located in Bori, Khana Local Government Area, Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic was in honour of the late activist’s achievements and legacies.

The governor, who disclosed this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said Saro-Wiwa fought selflessly for the good of the society and humanity.

He explained that the former Ogoni leader and his achievement should not be consigned to oblivion, saying Saro-Wiwa was known and revered beyond the shores of Nigeria.

“In honour of his monumental achievements and legacies, the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic in Bori as Ken Ule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic.

“The memories of avatars like the late Saro-Wiwa, who fought selflessly for the betterment of society and humanity should not be consigned to oblivion, more so, when such personalities are revered beyond the shores of the country,” Wike said in the statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Sir, Opunabo Inko-Tariah.

Oil Spill: Shell to Pay Ogoni Community N16.6bn

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The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, yesterday said it has agreed to pay the Bodo Community in Ogoniland, Rivers State, the sum of £55 million (about N16.6 billion) (N300 to £1) as compensation for damages caused by two oil spills in 2008.

Shell said in a statement made available to Vanguard that the bulk of the money, about £35 million will, be paid to individuals who agree on the settlement terms, while the balance of £20 million will be for the benefit of the general community.

According to Shell, “… a £55 million settlement agreement with the Bodo community in respect of the two highly regrettable operational spills in the area in 2008. “The £55 million settlement provides for an individual payment to each claimant who accepts the settlement agreement in compensation for losses arising from the spills, amounting to up to £35 million in total.

“The remaining £20 million payment will be made for the benefit of the Bodo community generally.”

Read More: www.vanguardngr.com